Some more bits and bobs from 2010!!!

Another lil thing i did late 2010 was Street Starz, which is an online show that promotes up and coming artists. I met the guy who runs it Jae through my cousin. i filmed my first little clip with him in an alley way in oxford street lool. I just sang an acapella of one of my tracks "the crowd" and also a little bit of Nina Simone "feeling good". It got put up on Youtube, facebook, twitter, all of that, and it got a really good response. Out of it i also got the chance to do an interview with an online magazine Niji magazine, which was cool. I've also now done another filming session with Street starz for their new acoustic music show. Which i did with my drummer, guitarist and saxophone player...in a park...in the snow!!! lol, which although it was cold it was a pretty nice touch to the video. I did one of my new tracks "Old days" CHECK IT OUT!!!
 FOLLOW THE LINKS!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXcxMPGsZE

heres als the first one i did...in the ally way lool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JwoaSUho7c

and lastly here is my interview with Niji magazine
http://nijimagazine.com/?page=singerDetail&artistId=78

I wasn't actually going to go to meet Jae from street stars that day, as i was rushing around West end, with my mum trying to find a wedding out fit for my uncle's wedding, last minute which is per usual with everything for me, but I'm bloody glad i did now as I've had a lot of interest from different people in the music biz from it, which has been grrrreat!!.

Oh yes, another thing i just remembered is i did backing vocals and helped host with one of the girls from Hackney Harlem, Chantell Nandi, the soul weekender in Devon with Kat B (Mtv base) and some other well known british comedians Slim, Eddie and more. I also took along one of my good buddies Belynda for the ride. And it was literally a crazy ride lol. Drivng in a van for 4 hours from London to Devon with a bunch of comedians is a pretty funny experience, as you can probably imagine. We stayed in chalets looking over a cliff side beach, which was real nice. Soo over the weekend we entertained the Soul weekenders by singing karaoke, getting them to sing karaoke, playing games and just generally making people laugh with kat lol, and did a bit of boogeying in the evenings. All round It was a fun experience. Me and Chantelle also do backing vocals for the Kat and Tameka show at The Hackney empire theatre, which is allways fun to do :).

Well i think that's enough catching up for 2010...but if you like what you've heard and find it vaguely interesting...theres lots more to come!!!! :)

I'm gonna be letting you guys know stuff that i want to do and achieve in 2011, and i'm gonna take a camera round with me as much as possible and hopefully do video blogs, if i can find me bloody camera lead lol, and i'm gonna try and keep you up dated with day to day activity, Gigs, releases, PA's the whole shabang!!!

Other stuffs that happened in 2010!!!

2010 I was in out out of working with different producers, different managers, i collaborated with different rappers and singers and i even signed a contract...which i then had to get out of as quick as possible...the silly things we do sometimes aye. But i do feel like I've learned quite a bit and one thing definitely, is not to rush things and jump into the first contract thrown your way...cos if you've got the talent and your dedicated to what you do it's a guarantee better is going to come.

I'm now working with a guy called Mystic Matt who is a DJ, producer, promoter all sorts OK, who i met in Malia (Greece) in 2009 as i was sitting on a curb drunk outside a night club, yes i am a bit of a party goer, so ya may hear the word drunk pop up a bit, but I've definitely calmed down, now I'm not a naughty teenager loool, as one of my lyrics say "If music was a drug then I'd be a junky, music is the only thing that can rush me" yep cos its all about the music!!!!! But yes, so me and Matt became buddies in Malia and i constantly tried to sing to him, but my voice was gone, it was very frustrating trust me!!! but when i was in Edinburgh this year i got a Tex from him asking if i wanted to do some tracks, and i said yes as soon as i was back in London we could meet up and do something. Which we did and now he has 100% faith in me and is helping push me and my music. I did a song called "One love" with two producers called Cassetti, who i met through another producer i was working with for a long time called Show n prove. "One love" is a dub step track and i wrote it about, not promoting violence and i used a club scene where its all good vibes as an example, cos I don’t know about you but I bloody hate it when your in a club, dancing, having a good time and the lights go on cos something’s kicked off. But yes now Matt is pushing the track big time and its gonna be released a bit later this year, so I’ll keep you up dated for dates.

What this has also meant is that I've had to start doing Pa's in clubs, which is really different and nerve racking for me compared to doing a gig with a live band, as your in a club, every ones in a party vibe and when u start to sing, you can get a very mixed reaction from the crowd as not many people have heard the tune yet...it's scary...trust me lol. Soo the first Pa we did i was thrown completely in the deep end as it was at a massive night called "Exposure" at Collusium which is an old school garage night. As soon as i got there i was introduced to Master steps off choice fm, DJ ez, versatile and some other big name people in the game, so you can imagine, from never doing a PA before i was pretty nervous. And just to kill it, there ain't no happy ending here, cos it was a flooooop lool. The tune had been sped up so i came in out of time, and I was put on straight after DJ EZ's set, so it went from upbeat old school garage to some out of time dubstep track and people just weren't responding, except for a couple girls at the front, thank you to them, whoever they were lol. . But I somehow managed to push through the embarrassment of having my mic taken off me half way through my track and watching a full room of people slowly disintegrate loool, and do u know what, you win some, you lose some, but you just gotta keep going, learn from your mistakes and better yourself!!! But there has been more Pa's since then which weren't to bad, did one in Scala for the summer reunion rave and in a club called Lounge 31 in Manchester. Also done some radio stations- Love FM, Hiegtz FM and a big radio station in Manchester which was pirate but has now gone legal called Unity FM, and this is just the start there's loads more to come. We're also shooting a video for the track so watch out for that!!!

You can check out "one love " and let me know what you think!!?!! on my facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/jessica-symonds-music-x/276115001393

Some of the gigs i got up to in 2010!!!

OK so one of the gigs i did last year was at Plan B on the 23rd of December for the The Thirsts xmas special (Plan A at Plan B). Now The Thirst is a band that i first saw over a year a go now at Brixton Jamm and I'd previously heard of them cos the drummer is one of my old school friends brother. They've got big Afro's a great stage presence and they kinda do a indie, rock...electric groove ting…so check them out if it sounds like your kinda ting!!!, but when i saw them that night i was immediately blown away... and took my fast self straight up to their manager to try and get a gig supporting them, and what do u know, over a year later i finally got it loool. I went to their launch night of Plan A at plan B and it was there that i got chatting to their manager once again, and sang to him with my tipsy self in the smoking area lol...and some how he trusted off that and gave me the slot. But the gig its self was wicked!!! i was only meant to do three tracks and go on quite early, which was understandable as they hadn't ever properly seen me perform. But after they heard my sound check my set got extended and i got put on a bit later :-). I gave it all i had that night and at the end of my set actually felt sick which was a sure sign i need to get on the gym!!! but got an amazing response from everyone, so hopefully there will be more gigs like that coming up :). My drummer did attempt to film it, but the camera cut out out half way through the first song...sad times. But we did get a lil behind the scenes footage and some pics.
here it is-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8Sp_tPB-A

By the way If there’s any up and coming bands you have heard and just thought…wow lol, then please let me know, cos I know there’s some amazing bands and acts out there but we don’t all ways hear of them as they haven’t had quite the same exposure as some of the bigger acts getting a full blown push from the major labels. But Another band I really love is The Illersapiens, Katy B actually use to be their singer, but deffo another one to look out for!!!

 Another gig I did leading up to Christmas was at The Long room in Tooting, which i do quite regularly...and its paid!!! yaaay lool here's some more pics from that one!!

Other gigs i did over the year were at Proud galleries, The Arch, The ghillie dhu, The Jamm supporting Alabama 3, Bar Vinyl, Babalou, Aquum, Troy bar and more, Oh and i also won the open mic competition at an event called I LUV LIVE early in the year, so came back the following week and did a little set, and i got a little review from it which said this:

"Jessica opened the night with an edgy performance, combining a sexy mix of rock and soul in her two piece set. Alongside her very own full band, saxophone included  and her big voice, she absolutely smacked it and set the bar high for the other acts." 

Hackney Harlem Theatre company...what we got up to in 2010!! and whats coming!!!

This summer just gone, i went to the Edinburgh festival where i performed for a month. I'm part of a theatre company called Hackney Harlem. This came out of ADP (Artist development programme) which i first started when i was 14, and was the thing that decided me that i wanted to pursue performing as a career. I was part of ADP for 4 consecutive summers and towards the end i ended up helping facilitate some of the younger artists taking part. As some of us got older and older Susie Mckenna our director didn't want to let us go :-) so decided to pick some of us out and put together a professional theatre company (Hackney Harlem). basing our debut show on Shakespeare A midsummer nights dream, we wrote and devised a younger, edgy more musical version (A midsummer nights madness) in the space of 2 weeks, pretty impressive aye haha. The show has been pretty successful, we performed it at Hackney Empire theatre and in 2009 took it to Harlem New York where we performed it at The Black National theatre.  This year 2010 we went to The Edinburgh festival for the whole of August, had a craaazzzzy time, did far to much partying and drinking...but got a really good response from the show. We even got 5 star reviews and recieved an award for most popular show at the Fringe, and we've now had offers to take the show to Los Angele's, Bombai and Poland.  

     
Here's also a link to one of the reviews we got at the Edinburgh festival...just thought I'd share it with ya, as I'm very proud tehe... http://www.broadwaybaby.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6963

We’ll also be back at our home of the Hackney Empire theatre next summer so I'll keep you guys posted and you can check it out!!!

2010 catch up!!!

RIGHT! so one thing i haven't mentioned is that i am a 3rd year full time university student at Westminster university, doing a Bmus music performance degree. It's there that I've met a whole range of very very talented singers and musicians and I've managed to put a band together. Although over the last couple of years the line up has changed a lot. I now feel i have a set of musicians who are dedicated and very talented, so I'm happy!! But to be brutally honest leading a band can be an absolute nightmare, and any singers reading this i would love to hear how you've found it...organising, motivating, etc...A lot of singers i know have had lots of problems with trying to organise and lead bands, but i suppose leading a team of people can be hard in any situation because it can put a lot of pressure on you...but i do have to say, when the outcome at the end does turn out really great...ITS ALL WORTH WHILE!!! I'm now going to show you a couple clips of me and my band doing our thaang!!!...so you can get a little taster of what we're about.

This gig was at Proud galleries in Camden in september 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiNSSUQo3Co
This one was an acoustic one in the undercroft bar at our uni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGVNWPZcreo&feature=related
This one was another lil acoustic set quite recently at bar vinyl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GJLO-fliNk

The bands made up of 7 people including myself, the line up includes bass (Damien langkamer), drums (James Ellen), keys (zuri), guitar (Greg Madge, saxaphone (Joshua Cutler) and one backing vocalist (chloe). All of which i met at uni except for my keys player Zuri and saxophone player Joshua Cutler, who i met through a project called What Next, which was a 3 week project in the summer of 2009, in which we were put into bands and we had to create songs to then perform on the main stage at somerset house, supporting Ms Dynamite, Chipmunk and The Wombats. In my band was a few of the musicians which are in my current band and a very talented singer named Katy B, who you may well of heard of, as she's blown up for the big time!! gwaaaarn katy haha.
Here we are!!!

 

Welcome to my world!!!

Exciting! aye? tehe...well actually not really, because if you don't know me already, you probably have no idea who the hell i am, but I'm hoping this blog is going to give you an insight into who Jessica Symonds is as a person and an artist, what i'm up to, and what I'm all about. Soo the reason I've called this blog Jess world is...firstly if you hadn't guessed it all ready... my name is Jessica. The idea of Jess world actually came from my uncle, who over the years has used "Jess world" as a sort of nick name for my personality. Because yes i do tend to be a bit up in the clouds or basically in a world of my own (Jess world). This means that i can be a bit dippy and that i do, do silly things at times, but i also believe its helped me to tap into my creativity over the years...well i bloody well hope so because if it hasn't what good has it been, other then to embarrass me haha. Soo yes I've decided to go down the VERY HARD route... trust me, but one i love, of singing and performing, and i do a little dabbling in acting and an even littler dabbling in dance. But this desire to perform hasn't come from no where, because as it just so happens, my mum is a pretty successful singer and actress and my dad also a writer and actor, so i have been surrounded by it my whole life. Actually even my brother does production...Maybe we should become like a Jackson family haha...or even now the Smiths lol.

Sooo i am an extremely versatile artist stylistically, but although this is a good thing, it's also meant I’ve found it hard to narrow down on my individual sound. I've grown up listening to my mum playing Nina Simone, Billy Holiday and more but then also people like David Bowie, The verve etc, and then i've also had my brothers and cousins in my ears playing jungle, garage, rnb, bashment and more. I have a huuuuge soulful husky voice which is very distinct, which is a good thing, and I also incorporate a bit of spoken word, almost rap in some of my songs. I listen to all kinds of music!!! But trying to narrow my sound down...I’d say the core of what I do is soul and rnb, but then there are elements of rock, reggae, dub step and jazz through out my sound. I love, love , love live music, and this is why I had to put a band together, which I’ll get onto, but I also do stuff with producers. But it is only towards the end of 2010 that I’ve really felt my sound is coming together...soo I’m very excited for you guys to hear some of the stuff I’ve been writing when its all done!!! But moving on, I want to give you lovely jubly people who have taken the time to read this, an update on what I've been getting up to in this past year of 2010...soo here we go!!!